I survived and had fun in AoE2 for a several years playing against AI only. I figured out how to beat them consistently, exploited their weaknesses well enough to win the vast majority of the time, and enjoyed my time peacefully in my AI bubble.
However, this bubble world gets shaken at least once or twice a year with AoE2:DE. The “AI” gets updated to get harder, smarter, more mischievous, and more capable.
Could devs maybe lock off a few versions of DE’s AI to never be updated again?
I just played a game where they sent stream after stream of Battering Rams, Catapults, and Trebs. Since my “bubble” consists of many towers and castles, it gets ridiculous in 1v2 games when 5 castles and 10 towers on the front of my town along with a smattering of units can’t defend against such an onslaught… or barely, if at all. Not even when I give myself a 105% handicap. It was never this hard. I did the 105% handicap thing months ago as my solution to the ramp up in difficulty before. I got to the point where I could win 95% of the time with that and heavily modifying my gameplay style. Now even that is in jeopardy. I’m being forced by devs to play in ways I do not want to play and have never played, each and every time the AI gets patched and beefed up. I’m not someone looking to achieve the ultimate meta, or wanting to have to watch the eSports experts 24x7 to figure out the best strategies and get an injection of Hera-style APM inspiration. I just want to peacefully play my game with some decent amount of challenge, yet eventually rule supreme on the map.
It’s only ridiculous from a perspective of how the AI has never been this smart or capable. I say that each time it gets updated. And it doesn’t help as a defensive player or a turtler as some might call it, my gameplay style gets squeezed further out of existence through constant nerfing of defensive things, while siege and units’ attacks keep getting buffed, and villagers get better micro by the AI to constantly repair siege, and AI generally gets smarter and harder. I remember when villagers repairing siege wasn’t even a thing in DE’s AI repertoire.
Also, the collection rates and market exchange rates have been adjusted so much that stone is so expensive it must be made of platinum or diamonds. I’m pretty certain the ratios and collection rates have never been so abysmal. If that wasn’t changed, then it is from me having to dump a bunch of cash on an array of expensive units and techs to stave off the streams of everything, where everything has an entourage to shore up any weakness of other units in the streams. I can’t manufacture enough gold to buy stone as well as I used to be able to. Not even close. A further “nerfening” of defenses. Age of Empires II: The Nerfening.
May we get some more variations of AI? I hate the HD Version. I don’t want the CD version. I want DE’s AI where it doesn’t cheat as much as HD and CD, but in its earlier times. Like, DE’s AI in the good old days where it hardly even knew about siege units and blindly sent streams of hardly-capable units to my castles to get mowed down. I’d like to see more to the list, like “AI - 2019”, “AI - 2022”, “AI - 2026 pt.1”, “AI - 2026, pt.2” or something like that. Something other than just “AI” that keeps getting patched up, as if every “vs. AI” player wants to pretend they are in a ranked match. I don’t want my AI evolving, so I think it’s time to start locking off some iterations. Or at least create a few versions for us to choose from with simpler intelligences. I played AoE2 CE for years minding my own business and enjoying my time without fear or worry of the AI algorithm getting shored up to be some juggernaut. I’m more than happy playing AoE2:DE my own way, without devs trying to force me to give up playing in a defensive, passive, economy- and tech-driven way. I don’t want to be forced to go on the offensive early or abandon a style of gameplay I like to play.
And, no… choosing AI Difficulty or more Handicap is not the answer. Those are frankenstein band-aids cobbled together for some variety that won’t address my issues. It’s nice to have those, they’re fine… for other reasons. But the AI is just fundamentally changing once or twice a year at a deeper root AI intelligence level and I just want to go back to my bubble where I don’t have to try to do 500 APM and know the perfect meta.
I adapt each and every time it gets patched, but I’m really tired of adapting and evolving my gameplay. I have a set way I want to play and don’t want it tinkered with so much so frequently. I have always and will forever choose “Moderate” here. It’s the AI algorithm itself that needs changing/locking off.
